Plus this week was the start of the Westering Women BOM. This is a 12" block - it was so nice to work with big pieces of fabric for a change.

These are the 9 Pineapple blocks I made this week. I also figured out that I cut 2,597 pieces for this quilt (53 pieces per block, and 49 blocks total), so only 2,120 pieces left to sew! These are 14" blocks.

Monday, January 25, 2016

I finished piecing the Flowering Snowball quilt blocks (42, 12" blocks). I just need to play with the layout a bit more and then sew the blocks together.

It was time to cut out another piecing project. This is all the fabric cut for a 98" square Pineapple Quilt (49 blocks).
I chose the Marti Michell Pineapple ruler because other ways I saw of piecing pineapple blocks involved piecing large strips of fabric and trimming off the corners - which seems wasteful to me. This method I was able to cut all the pieces out ready to just be sewn together.

These are 1" finished strips, and the blocks are 14" square.

First 4 blocks so far. They went together beautifully - all the pieces are trimmed perfectly with the ruler, to make piecing so easy.

I plan on this being my year project, for when I just want to go sew for a while.

Friday, January 22, 2016

I like to start the year off with a plan, and since it has been a few years since I have participated in long term blocks of the month (or little quilts of the month), I decided to try a few for this year.

I am still working on the 365 Challenge blocks. All 3" blocks so far. The blocks seem to be following patterns in piecing - straight lines, squares and now we have been making half square triangles, so it is interesting to see what the next day brings.

Today is the start of the new quilt along from Temecula Quilt Co. This one is Circa 2016. There will be new blocks each Friday 'until the quilt is finished'. All the blocks will be either 2+1/4" or 3", these four pinwheels are the small size. This will end up being a small quilt (48"x55"), and seems like a great way to use scraps.

Next Wednesday is the start of another year long, quilt along from Barbara Brackman, on the Civil War Quilts blog - this one is called Westering Women. There will be twelve, 12" blocks, posted on the last Wednesday of every month (plus a little history will be included with the pattern).

and blended it will some white tencel and some silver angelina (more sparkly stuff),

to make this yarn (155g, 410m, about fingering weight).

With blended fibre there are still different colours without being too 'stripy'.

I tried Moebius knitting for the first time! Much easier than I imagined it would be. This is a Felted Moebius Basket, the ingenious pattern is from Cat Bordhi. It just took a few hours to make. I knitted it with some of my first hand spun (originally a scarf that I didn't wear, so I took it apart). This only has one edge and one surface - true Moebius knitting!

Before felting.

It makes a perfect, light weight yarn bowl for my current knitting project.

Friday, January 15, 2016

My stack of 365 Challenge blocks is growing nicely - these are all 3" blocks (so far I am enjoying the challenge of a block-a-day).

I have also been cutting out a fat quarter pack (24 FQ's of 'Ticklish' by Me and My Sister). The apple core and the tumblers were cut out using the GO!, and the little thimbles using a rotary cutter and template (I have cut out 200 thimbles so far and have lots of little scraps to cut). The apple cores will make a lap quilt and the tumblers a baby quilt, not too sure what the thimbles will make yet. I find that these three dies and templates are a fabulous way to use a fat quarter pack and there is very little waste. These will be charity quilts - I've cut the fabric, my Mother will do the piecing and I will do the quilting.

Wednesday, January 6, 2016

The start of a new year is always an exciting time to plan for the upcoming year!

I decided that I would 'start' the 365 Challenge - a block a day for the year! This seems like a big commitment for me, so I have chosen to make a scrappy sampler - I hope to make enough for a bed quilt, but really, it might end up being a table runner! I'll see how the year goes. The first 7 blocks are just 3", but there will be 6" blocks too.

This is the fabric I am using for the Challenge (if you click on the 3 little lines in the top left hand corner of the challenge website you can sign up to have the block instructions emailed every day - so simple).

This is a skein of yarn that I spun during a New Year's eve spin along - angora, merino, alpaca, silk and sparkling angelina.

Made from fibre that I dyed and blended.

My year seems to starting off very bright!

I wish you all the best for the new year, and thanks for stopping by!♥︎

Carrying on the Tradition

The old quilts on the right side of my blog header photo are ones made by a couple of great-grandmothers, a grandmother and an aunt, plus some of their photos and some of their quilting supplies. The quilt in the background and the ones on the left are mine.